Mamiferos

All About Mammals
Mammals are one of the 6 main classes of animals.  Animal classes are groups of animals that scientists consider to be alike in some important ways.  Mammals are the animal class that people belong to.
There are only about 4,000 kinds of mammals.  This sounds like a lot, but when you consider there are 21,000 kinds of fish and a whopping 800,000 kinds of insects you’ll realizemammals are a pretty small class!
Here are some of the ways that mammals are alike!
Mammals are warm blooded
The temperature could be freezing cold
or boiling hot,
but mammals’ bodies are built to maintain just about the same temperature all the time.  Warm blood lets the mammals be very active and live in a wide variety of places.
Mammals are everywhere.  Polar bears live in very coldareas.  Camels live in hot areas.  Moles live under the ground.  Bats live in caves and fly in the air.  Dolphins live in the oceans.  Fur and fat help protect mammals who live in the cold.  Mammals sweat or pant to release extra heat if they live somewhere toasty.
All mammals have fur or hair.  
Sometimes it's long hair covers their entire body 
Sometimes it's very short hair or there are just afew strands.
Even mammals that swim under the water (like dolphins and whales) have hair.  Though you would need a magnifying glass to see the fine hair on the lips of a young whale.  
Mammals are the only animals with true hair.  Hair are dead cords of a substance called keratin which is also what our fingernails are made from.  The most important part is that hair is dead.
What looks likehair on a fly or a spider actually contains living parts of the animal.
That means if you cut a spider's hair it would HURT!  (er, the spider)

Mammal Babies:  We all drink Milk!

Most mammal babies live inside their mothers before they are born, just like humans.
How many things can you see in common between this human baby and this kitty baby?

When the baby is big enMammal Babies:  Weall drink Milk!
Most mammal babies live inside their mothers before they are born, just like humans.
How many things can you see in common between this human baby and this kitty baby?
When the baby is big enough, it comes out of its mother’s body.  Many people mistakenly think that being born alive is something all mammals have in common.  There are, however, a few mammals (like the duckbilledplatypus) who lay eggs like a bird!
So what do mammal babies have in common?
Well, even though some baby mammals are born different ways, they all drink milk that comes from their mothers' bodies.  Baby pigs, dolphins, bats and elephants all drink milk!
Because the babies rely on their mother's milk to live, the mammal mommies have to care for their young.  The length of time varies from a fewweeks for mice to many years for humans!
People have "baby teeth" or "milk teeth".  So do all of the other mammals!  The only exceptions are mammals like anteaters -- they don't have any teeth at all.
Mammal mothers are hard workers.  Baby mammals learn from their mothers.  Most of the mothers don’t really try to teach their babies, but the babies watch their mother and do the things they seeher do.  Through copying their mothers, baby mammals learn everything they need to survive.
So, what do mammals eat when they grow up?  They eat all sorts of different things!  Lions are mammals who eat meat – they are called carnivores.  Cows are mammals who eat plants – they are called herbivores.  People are mammals who eat meat and plants – they are called omnivores. Mammal Babies: We alldrink Milk!
baby kitten (baby cat)

Most mammal babies live inside their mothers before they are born, just like humans
How many things can you see in common between this human baby and this kitty baby?
When the baby is big enough, it comes out of its mother’s body. Many people mistakenly think that being born alive is something all mammals have in common. There are, however, a few mammals...